Telling it like it is - The Split: Anjuman V. Khilafat | Part B

This article was first published in its entirety in the 2008-2 issue of The The Muslim Sunrise, the oldest Muslim publication of the United States. Due to the obvious lack of space to reprint the entire article in one 'shot' here at Ahmadiyya Times, this is the second in a four part series addressing the question of the split of Ahmadi Muslims that occurred in the early 20th century. Each of the next three parts will be released on successive days at 5:00 AM [PST]. You can read the previous part here.

Ahmadiyya Times | Articles | Part two of four
Source & Credit: The Muslim Sunrise | Issue 2/2008
By Fazil Jamal

Part B |The Split: A Moment Frozen in Time

The immediate cause for the split in the community was the question of leadership, occasioned by the death of Maulvi Hakim Nuruddin on March 13, 1914. The precedent set by the election of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I, at the time of the death of the Promised Messiah, clearly showed the path to be followed in the event of such extraordinary circumstances. Following in the noble tradition, the Ahmadiyya Community elected Mirza  Basheeruddin Mahmud Ahmad to be the Second Successor to the Promised Messiah and stood solidly behind the leadership of the new Khalifa.

However, a party of believers led by Maulana Muhammad Ali, refused to endorse the decision of the bulk of the community, nor to take the oath of allegiance at the hands of the new Khalifa. They separated themselves from the main body of the Jama’at and created the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at-i-Islam, Lahore ( also known as the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement). In a tract published in English in 1918, entitled The Ahmadiyya Movement – IV: The Split the Maulana claimed that the split was not due “to a desire to work separately” and accused the Second Successor to the Promised Messiah, of “drift(ing) away from the basic principles of the Islamic faith” and the “true doctrines of the Promised Messiah, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.”

Viewed in retrospect, the accusations and the vertical division in the ranks was a natural corollary to a series of developments which were taking place within the Ahmadiyya Community for almost close to a decade. Some of these issues concerned the nature of leadership and the status of Khalifa and his authority over the Anjuman. While the dissident group sought to create for themselves the ideological high ground of being the “real” defenders of the faith, they were essentially attempting to invent a new theology for the community.

It is interesting to note that the intellectual revolt against the authority of the Khalifa was led by a bunch of professionally qualified lawyers who cared deeply for the scholarly receptivity and popular acceptance of the community’s doctrines and beliefs and wanted to refashion it in their own line of thinking. It is not inconceivable that the dominant political ideas of the day, such as the notion of separation of powers between religious head and administrative bodies, parliamentary supremacy and legal accountability, seem to have a determining effect on their religious outlook as well. Indeed, Maulana Muhammad Ali wanted to dilute the doctrinal claims of the Promised Messiah, so as to conform to, what he perceived, the level of plausible general acceptance by the ‘standards’ of the Muslim orthodoxy of the day.

Previously Published:
February 10, 2010 | 5:00 AM [PST] | Part A | The darkest hour is before the dawn

Coming up next: 

February 12, 2010 | 5:00 AM [PST] | Part C | Anjuman v. Khalifa: The Debate Within
February 13, 2010 | 5:00 AM [PST] | Part D | In Lieu of Conclusion

-- Ahmadiyya Times staff selection